New Flyer lays off 30 workers from Winnipeg facilities

About 30 workers were laid off from the New Flyer facilities in Winnipeg.

On Tuesday, a New Flyer spokesperson confirmed the news, saying the Winnipeg team members were laid off effective Dec. 22 from New Flyer, an NFI subsidiary.

The spokesperson added NFI has been “severely” impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as supply chain and inflationary challenges.

Since the start of the pandemic, the company has experienced a net loss of more than $230 million and has eliminated 2,000 positions globally. NFI has also closed a number of facilities and dealt with supply underperformance.

The spokesperson said these types of decisions are not easy, but the layoffs are expected to be temporary.

“We hope to be able to ramp up production and increase our labour force in Winnipeg as we move beyond this significant supply disruption and execute upon our $5 billion backlog,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

NFI added that the employees impacted by the layoffs maintain recall rights under a collective bargaining agreement, and the company hopes to recall these workers.

The spokesperson said that support from the province will aid the company financially, and help support its operations as it recovers from these challenges.